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OPINION

Trump true on Keystone XL — Our View

Louisiana
Published 11:09 p.m. CT Jan. 31, 2017

Miles of pipe ready to become part of the Keystone Pipeline are stacked in a field near Ripley, Oklahoma.(Photo: Sue Ogrocki, AP)

By giving the go-ahead to the Keystone XL pipeline, President Donald Trump revived an energy project that should have been long completed by now.

For seven years, former President Barack Obama played obstructionist on Keystone, frustrating a project that would have helped move crude oil from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries. The project’s estimated cost rose from $5.4 billion to $8 billion during that delay.

Keystone XL, initially proposed in 2008, would extend pipelines from Alberta, Canada about 875 miles to Steele City, Nebraska, where it would join other pipelines before moving crude oil — the capacity is almost 830,000 barrels a day — southward. The overall plan also moves crude oil from the Bakken Shale south. Proponents changed 2008 plans to make the project shorter, avoid the environmentally sensitive Sand Hills Region and reduce the number of surface water bodies crossed from 317 to 56.

Congress repeatedly OK’d the project; the president repeatedly delayed and finally denied the executive approval needed. The coastal portion of the pipeline has been complete for four years and is operating.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump promised policies friendlier to fossil fuels. Last week, with approval of this project, he delivered.

Approving the project makes imminent and long-term sense:

There are 330,000 miles of pipelines in the U.S.; this project does not break the U.S. when it comes to safely moving crude oil.

Pipelines present a safer and more environmentally friendly means of moving oil than either railroads or trucks, which is how the oil would move if not for pipelines.

The project joins efforts of the American energy industry with those of Canada, our close ally. That may diminish U.S. dependence on oil imports from Venezuela and Middle East, whose leadership bitterly opposes the U.S.

The pipeline may eventually provide a ready supply of crude oil to Louisiana coastal refineries. It may boost U.S. employment, long term and short. TransCanada is renewing its intention to move forward; so should the U.S.

Louisiana’s energy leaders have expressed their support for the project. The Louisiana Oil & Gas Association suggested Obama’s dithering was done to secure and enhance his legacy for environmentalism. Wrestling over the permit became more symbolic than substantive; the project as revised made sense for the participants while addressing environmental concerns.

U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-3rd District, supports Trump’s efforts, including the president’s insistence on the use of U.S.-made steel and U.S. labor.

This, too, is worthy of Louisiana’s support: Trump has made good on his campaign pledge to support America’s energy industry, after long years of Obama obstructionism on energy. That’s the right tack for defending America’s economy and its defense. It’s right for safeguarding Louisiana jobs.